DRYANDRASTUDYGROUP NEWSLETTER NO. 34 . \- ISSN: 0728-151X JANUARY, 1998 SOCIETY FOR GROWING AUSTRALIAN PLANTS DRYANDRA ARBOREA This species is unique among dryandras being a tree up to 8 m tall with a thick trunk and deeply fissured bark. It is also the most inland dryandra and is found on the ironstone hills north of Southern Cross. It is successful in cultivation in warm, dry areas such as north eastern Victoria where plants reach large sliiib proportions and flower and set seed. STUDY GROUP LEADER NEWSLETTER EDITOR Mrs. Margaret Pieroni Mr. Tony Cavanagh 16 Calpin Crescent 16 Woodlands Drive ATTADALE OCEANGROVE WA 6156 VIC 3226 A happy new year to everyone. 1 hope that none of you were affected by bushfires over the last two months. It has been an extraordinary year for southern Victoria, very little rain and relatively hot summer. So far, no losses apart form one D.arctoiidis (which I don't think died from the dry as other dryandras all around are thriving). As you will see from my article, I am also nursing about 60 small plants thought the summer. I am hoping that most will survive. Margaret has given us another excellent account of her trip to Eurardy station and country in between. The destruction of thousands of dryandras in the re-opened gravel pit north of Three Springs shows just how fragile many populations are, The very impressive list of plants currently growing in her garden is a challenge for all of us. David Randall, David Lightfoot and Elizabeth Brett also report on their gardens. Does anyone else have information on successes (and failures) especially of rare and endangered species? I am very pleased to publish two articles by Lloyd Carman on his trips to the west and a letter from Brenton Tucker on the very important but little discussed topic of using fertilisers on natives when planting out. His results with ammonium nitrate are indeed spectacular as I was able to see first hand when I visited his nursery late last year. These three articles are reproduced with permission from the South Australian SGAP Journal and I would like to thank the editors, Eleanor and Kevin Handreck, for so readily allowing me to use them. I have an article on spring versus autumn germination of dryandras, an old hobby horse. I have also included some more pages from the online version of Australian Plants by kind permission of the editor, Brian Walters. The large scale versions of the pictures are great on a colour monitor. One of the recommendations which came out of a meeting of Study Group Leaders was that groups should publish a membership list and financial statement at least yearly. I hope you find these of interest. And finally, there are still a number of outstanding subscriptions for 1997 - 1998. If an X appears in the box below, we do not have a record of your payment and this will be your last newsletter. Please pay Margaret as soon as possible. Subscription owing for 1997-1998 Happy dryandra growing, Newsletter Editor Colourful Surprises - Return to Eurardy 14th-18th June '97 The timing could not have been better for my return visit to Eurardy Station to collect and photograph the dryandra that I had seen last year and mistakenly, as it turned out, identified as D. frasen var. oxycedra. Margaret Quicke, of Eurardy had alerted me a week or so previously, that the dryandra was flowering three weeks earlier than usual. After many days of rain, the skies were almost cloudless and perfect for photography, when I set out accompanied by Shirley Loney to travel north beyond the Murchison River. The weather remained perfect for the whole trip. At about 117 km's north of Perth we turned west off the Great Northern Highway on North Road. Not far along this road is by far the largest population known of D. drummondii subsp. hiemalis. Hundreds of plants are growing in a dis-used gravel pit now being used as a rubbish tip. Large mature plants occur in the lowest part of the pit and younger smaller plants with fewer, but more conspicuous flowers are spread up the sides and into the eucalyptus woodland to the north. Most plants were in flower. Although I have visited this site several times in,the last few years it was the first time I'd seen the flowering at its best. The magnificent inflorescences with their golden yellow styles and rich rust or coppery brown limbs positively glowed in the rays of the low early morning sun. No need for the flash for photography, though I did get rather excited and had to carefully watch how many photos I could take. As usual, I could have done with more film! We travelled north on the Midlands Road to Three Springs where I intended to collect a fresh specimen of D. menvar. oxycedra for comparison with the northern one. As I drove into the huge gravel pit on Lynch Road, north of three Springs, where Ann Cochrane and I had been shown a large expanse of the three dryandras that occur in the area, D. borealis subsp. elatior, D. tnifontinalis and D. fraseri var. oxycedra, I was horrified to discover that the gravel is once more being removed and the thousands of dryandras have been destroyed. We found only two plants of D. borealis remaining on the edge of the large pit. Further along Lynch Road a second pit is again in use as well. In a small remnant of the original vegetation between the two excavations we managed to find one plant of D. fraseri var oxycedra among a few of the other two species. Fortunately, all three are common in tlie Kadithinni Reserve soutli west of Three Springs but they are not now as prevalent as Ail11 and I reported tliree years ago. From Three Springs we drove westwards to the Brand Highway where we spent the night at Western Flora Caravan Park north of Eneabba. We had booked accommodation for the fourth night there as well and, before leaving we arranged with Alan Tinker, who with his wife Lorraine runs this excellent facility, to spend some time botanising on our return. Alan, an ex Victorian, will no doubt be known to other Study Group members. He is an authority on the flora of tlie area who delights in showing it to botanists and other e~lBusiasis. Having made good time on the second day, we decided to divert across to Burma Road south east of Geraldton, striking it at about 10 km's from the northern end. this road is very rich in rare and beautiful flora including Banksia scabrella which had almost finished flowering. We stopped to explore the dense heath and found some beautiful specimens of D. sessilis var. flabellifolia in flower, growing in a laterite rock depression. Among Banksias leptophylla and scabrella and other shrubs we found the low-growing D. fraseri var. ashbyi. One plant lad a few pink flowers with smooth, almost hairless limbs and small dark brown glabrous seed follicles. Tlie leaves are uniformly blue-grey, quite small, with tlie lobes quite close together. Nearby we were delighted to discover one plant of D. shunleworthiana among many still in bud, with just one infloresce~ice open and two more, adjacent to it showing the colour of the limb. The colour was most surprising. Previously I liad only seen tlus species with a cream perianth and brown limb surrour~dedby hairy bracts which are a rusty colour 011 the inside. The flowers of tlus plant were more nunierous, so tliat tlie whole flower-head was more open and spreading and tlie colour of the limb a misty dark red. It looked niore like D. speciosa than any D. shuttleworthiana I've seen before. South of tlie Kalbarri turn-off I stopped to look at the roadside plants I'd photographed in 1983 aud verified that they were the D. fraseri variety like those at Eurardy. Further soutli at Ogilvie East Road we'd seen some that had slightly shorter leaves and a more spreading habit. Perhaps they are grading into D. fraseri var. fraseri? Hoping that D. borealis subsp. borealis would be at its flowering peak we drove towards Kalbarri. This is a~~otlierspecies which, except at Cra~ibour~ie,I lad only seen once before in flower and tlien only at the end of thc scasoll whcn only a fcw plants wcrc sparscly flowering. 23 km's along the road we found the population quite easily. Tlie golden yellow flowers are very striking althougl~tlie shrubs are quite small and spreading compared to subsp. elatior. In the white sand and laterite, growing with the dryandras are other medium to large shrubs some of which were flowering, such as Hakea orthorryncha and H. pycnoneura and Grevillea dielsiana. It promises to be another very good wildflower season this year. D. borealis subsp. borealis is a beautiful species, Neil Marriott's favourite, I believe. The inflorescences, slightly smaller than subsp. elanor, are more colourful because the bracts, almost as long as the flowers, are golden yellow tipped with rusty-brown hairs on the outside whereas subsp. elnrior has greenish yellow bracts. Both are very attractive and quite floriferous. Though some of die phnts were still in bud others were indeed at their peak so, once again, this time in perfect afternoon sunlight, the camera was in action. The following day at Eurardy Margaret Quicke took us "bush-bashing" in the mustering utility to the northern boundary of their vast property and part of Kalbarri Park.